Logan City & a Governor’s Heroic Ride

The ghost town of Logan City sits at the base of Mt. Irish between Hiko and Rachel. While looking for aliens on the infamous Extraterrestrial Highway, you can get off the beaten path and explore Nevada’s early heritage.

Logan City lasted only a short time before being abandoned, but it played a critical role in the development of silver mining in southern Nevada. The first Governor of Nevada made a heroic ride to Logan City, saving a dehydrated and starving government party stranded in Death Valley.

Logan City

In 1863, Missionary William Hamblin scouted the area around Mt. Irish for settlement. The Southern Paiute tribe showed him rock, which Hamblin called “panagari” or “panacker.” He returned the following spring and started the Meadow Valley Mining District.

Prospectors discovered silver deposits in 1865. They flocked to the area but left that spring following hostilities with Native Americans. The rich ore was too much of a lure, and prospectors returned that fall. Miners filed more than 100 claims and created a settlement named Logan Springs.

Logan City grew into one the largest mining camps in the Pahranagat district. By 1866, it had a population of 300. The town included stores, a hotel, and stables. They were awarded a post office on July 2, 1867, named Logan Springs. The mining district declined in 1869 as the ore deposits were shallow. The Logan post office closed on August 1, 1871.

Rancher Adin Greer used the spring for his cattle, mining and domestic use from 1889 to 1911.

From 1955 into the 1970s, Tom and Della Scofield lived in Logan City, mining aluminum from the bluff. They constructed a cabin using building materials for the old townsite.

The Governors Heroic Ride

A new county and possibilities

In 1866, the first Governor after Nevada gained statehood, Henry Blasdel, and 20 others set out to Crystal Springs to organize Lincoln County and inspect promising mining opportunities.

No road connected Carson City to Pahranagat. Instead of heading east to Austin, then south, they made a fateful decision to go south to Silver Peak and then through the infamous Death Valley.

On April 8, the Gold Hill Daily News published a letter from the Governor. He writes of a lack of water and grass for the animals and doubts their ability to successfully traverse the current route. They planned to go as far as the animals could carry them and then divert to the White Mountains and Kearsarge.

We will go as far as our animals will stand it; and when we can go no further and are compelled to abandon the enterprise, we will do so, but until then, our march is onward.

Gold Hill Daily News, April 16, 1866

A destitute party in Death Valley

On May 14, the Sacramento Bee reported the party had been seen north of Death Valley. Prospectors said they were making good time and confident of their success. After entering Death Valley, Governor Blasdel and his party were not heard from for over a month. Newspapers reported that the expedition failed and that the twenty-one travelers likely perished on their journey.

Governor Blasdel and another man made a harrowing ride to Logan City for supplies for the destitute travelers. One man died in Death Valley; the others survived by eating doves and lizards. A journalist traveling with the party said the lizards were “equal to any frogs that were ever roasted.” Wisely, on the return route, they followed the established route north through Austin.

Logan City Ruins

The predominant ruins of Logan City are the cabins and structures built by Tom and Della Scofield, using materials from the original town. Several rock foundations remain, along with trash dumps.

Tom and Della Scofield’s Cabin

Writing on the cabin rock

Outbuildings

Rock foundations and trash pile

WANT MORE GHOST TOWNS?

For information on more than five hundred ghost towns in Nevada & California, visit the Nevada Ghost Towns Map or a list of Nevada ghost towns.

Nevada Ghost Towns Map

---

References

• Bureau of Land Management
• Gold Hill Daily News, Mon, Apr 16, 1866. Page 3
• Gold Hill Daily News, Mon, Jul 9, 1866. Page 3
• Legenda of America: Logan City, Nevada-Mining on Mt. Irish
• Lincoln County Nevada: A short history of Lincoln County
• The Nevada Appeal by Richard Moreno: The Nevada Traveler: 19th century hoaxes and hair-raising adventures in Pahranagat Valley
• Nevada Expeditions: Logan City
• Nevada State Historic Preservation Office: Crystal Springs
• Nevadans for Cultural Preservation
• The Sacramento Bee, Mon, May 14, 1866. Page 2
• The Sacramento Bee, Tue, May 22, 1866. Page 3

Follow me on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•